The Return
by JennyMaggieB
Summary: Maddy and Rhydian cannot believe the pain they still feel due to losing each other six months ago, and they both blame themselves for the other's pain, will they ever be the same again? i am really bad at summaries but i worked really hard on this (my first ever fanfic) so please let me know what you think! I'd really appreciate constructive criticism x
1. The tree

'_There, there she is', _was all he could even manage to say in his head as his eyes first met the idle of his dreams. He had longed to see her for so very long that he could do nothing but stare at her sweet, distraught, innocent face.

It had been six months since the departure of Rhydian from the only true home he had ever known, six months too long by anyones' standards – including the abandoned party's. Maddy was the best friend that Rhydian had ever had, and he left her, without even a goodbye for the girl he now realised he could not live without. He knew only how to exist when in his new pack, which he chose over his love and her pack in a blind, stupid and hasty decision. This changed both of their lives for the worse, and Rhydian regarded this decision as the biggest mistake of his life.

Rhydian wasn't the only person left lifeless by the choice he made to become wild in a bid to finally have the only thing he thought he could ever want, a family. Maddy had never been the same since. The distress caused by her loss had had an impact on everything about her. Her schoolwork had rapidly dropped from her usual B grade standard to just being able to scrape Ds. Even on full moon days she could not bring herself to break her usual slow pace of walking, when walking used to be unthinkable of doing when she could run. Her appearance had gone from that of a secret wolfblood, who took pride in her appearance without being too vein, to that of a vagrant who had no home. Of course her parents, Daniel and Emma, kept a check on their little girl by ensuring she remembered to simply do the basics required to appear normal, but they could do nothing about the dead look in her eyes or her recently gained tendency to constantly look down at the floor: even during a conversation with those now closest to her she could not bring herself to make eye contact.

Maddy had realised only through his loss how much Rhydian had meant to her – which only made it worse. As if the pain she could always feel in the left side of her chest, under her ribs, where her heart used to be before it was ripped out six months previously, wasn't enough, it was made worse by the fact that she felt it was all her own fault. Maddy couldn't help but think to herself '_If only I'd been honest about how I felt, not only with him but first of all with myself, I could have prevented all of this pain, no matter if he did or didn't feel the same. Honesty would have either let us be together, or allowed me to move on'._ Maddy now thought of both outcomes as impossible as she was resigned to the decided truth in her mind that she would never see her one and only love again, meaning that she could never find out which scenario would be or could have been the outcome. She would forever be stuck in her never ending world of pain, always.

As Maddy thought this over in her head, like she did every night when she got into bed, every night with silent tears running down her face, she had no idea that her self-blaming and leaking eyes were being mirrored by him who they were meant for. Rhydian was perched in a tree at level with Maddy's window, unable to forgive himself for the pain he could see etched on Maddy's once happy and radiant face, for the simple fact that it was his fault. He wished he could have found an alternative to causing the emotional turmoil which was deeply felt by both, '_but what could I do?' _He questioned himself, '_If I had stayed and been selfish, Ceri would never have given up trying to get me back. I know she would have eventually resorted to 'eliminating'', _(as Ceri herself had once put it in a threat to him)' _my whole reason for staying, my whole reason for living, just so that she could have back somebody else who could collect wood for her fire instead of her, or look after her other son, Bryn, so that she didn't have to, or hunt for food to fill her belly!' _He was thinking aloud now, and had to stop in a bid to calm himself down, if he changed now his cover would be blown and he would be seen, and he couldn't deal with that. The look in her eyes of disappointment and hurt would be enough if she saw him, but the words he knew she'd say for leaving her and causing pain which seemed close to that which he felt himself, but which he knew could never be greater than as he also now had an increased level of self-loathing, due the sight in front of him, (_'that would be impossible', he declared to himself). _He knew that she'd tell him that she didn't want him, and this he really couldn't bear. _'She'll never want me again', _was the main statement which clouded his mind as he continued to gaze into her no longer happy eyes, that was until the snap of a twig on the floor below his tree brought him back to his harsh reality…


	2. The Intruder

'Mum!' cried Rhydian in his shock and despair of her impending reaction. He didn't know what to say. He was puzzled as to why he didn't sense her approaching him.

'So, this is where you are! You've come back to your tame friend! You left your own mother to find one of her cubs missing! You wanted me to go through all of that distress because of one of those disgraces to our species!' Each word she spat out like it was a bad taste in her mouth, especially the word tame, and every word got louder than the last, causing Rhydian to fear one of the Smiths noticing.

Rhydian leapt from the tree to the ground in front of his mother below, the leaves muffling the sound of his landing. At the same level as Ceri, he could see the anger in her face, her teeth were gritted, and he could see her eyes threatening to change from their hard, grey pools, to raging gold circles. Finally, after staring into his mother's eyes in the deafening silence of his thoughts, he calmly replied, whilst taking deep breaths in order to keep his face neutral and indifferent, 'Maddy is not tame, or a disgra-'

'WHY ARE YOU HERE!?' She cut him off. She couldn't bear to hear her firstborn and heir defend one of those cowards who is afraid of living the wild life that she believed all wolfbloods were born to live. ' YOU WALKED AWAY FROM THIS LIFE MONTHS AGO! YOU ARE HAPPY IN OUR PACK, WITH YOUR MOTHER AND YOUR BROTHER! AND –'

'BUT I'M NOT! DON'T YOU SEE THAT? I'M NOT HAPPY WITH YOU! I THOUGHT I WOULD BE WHEN I CAME WITH YOU BUT I'M JUST NOT! I NEVER HAVE BEEN AND I KNOW NOW THAT I CAN BE!' Rhydian was throwing caution to the wind now, raising his voice so that it could be heard above hers_._ He had completely forgotten about where he was, whose house he was stood in the forest next to, and not to mention that the people who own that house are wolfbloods with the ability to hear things that no ordinary human being could ever dream of being able to hear.

Maddy suddenly exited her deep contemplation at the sound of the dispute. Her Mum and Dad were away for the night, so it was left to her to investigate the disturbance. Even with her wolfblood hearing, it was hard to make out the voices due to the wind. She got up from her bed to look through the window and examine the area of woods surrounding her garden. That's when she saw him. _Him._ _Rhydian_. She didn't believe it. She couldn't believe it. She had been convinced that he would never return, and even if he did, she was so sure that he had never cared enough about her to come back and be in the forest at the end of her garden! '_It makes no sense!' _was Maddy's concluding thought as she left her room in a muddle of emotions. She headed downstairs and out of the door into her back garden, without so much as stopping to put on her shoes, determined to get to the bottom of the sight and see if he was really there, or if she was going mad.

The argument in the trees was continuing with Ceri screaming, 'HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO YOUR MOTHER LIKE THAT! AFTER I SAVED YOU FROM THE TAMES!' But this was all just background noise to Maddy. She entered the trees and neither Rhydian nor Ceri noticed, they were too consumed in their anger to notice anything around them. Both the mother's, and her son's, eyes were yellow now, and their veins on their bodies were hard to ignore, they were darker than death itself. However, Rhydian did notice one thing, the same thing as Maddy, that the part of his chest, which normally burned due to the pain of its emptiness, felt slightly less uncomfortable. This distracted him from replying to his mother leaving them in silence. Ceri was glaring at him, anticipating his reply.

Maddy had been standing there observing Rhydian without uttering a word due to the shock of seeing him. She hadn't even noticed that it was him who had been making the noise. The noise was forgotten. She hadn't even noticed Ceri. She saw only _him_ and was finally able to utter his name. 'Rhydian.' It would have been hardly audible to a normal human, but it was enough for the other wolfbloods present to hear the intruder.

'Maddy,' whispered Rhydian in disbelief at her petite frame being stood in front of him.

'_You,' _was all that escaped Ceri's lips before she snapped.


	3. The Attack

What happened next was so strange to watch. At the sight of Maddy, Ceri pounced and changed into her wolf-self, after shouting the unusual battle cry of 'THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!'

It all happened so quickly, too quickly for either Maddy or Rhydian to do anything to stop Ceri before she caused one of them physical harm. For Rhydian, who was substituted to being a spectator after his original role in the debate as a participant, it still all seemed to happen in slow motion despite the speed of Ceri's attack. All he could do was stand on the spot and watch his _own mother_ jump on Maddy, causing himself also to change into a wolf, because of the pain of having his freshly returning heart ripped out once again, because of the pain he felt at the idea of losing his sweet Maddy Smith again, all because of him, again.

Maddy screamed on impact as Ceri slashed her razor-sharp claws across her body and landed on top of her. Maddy cried in pain. She had been awoken from the dream of seeing Rhydian again into the nightmare of being attacked by his mum. The weight of a fully-grown wolf on top of her was too much for Maddy, she felt as though she was about to be crushed at any second. Then however Ceri stood up on her hind legs, sending a momentary relief through Maddy as the weight was lifted. Maddy thought that this was the end of the attack, but that was until she saw Ceri aiming for her body, nose first, jaw wide open, teeth like knives.

Maddy had squeezed her eyes tight shut in fear of Ceri's next hit, which she knew she herself was powerless to stop in time, but it never came. A few more seconds passed and she opened her eyes, seeing that Rhydian had taken Ceri down next to her, he had saved her from an even worse injury than the one which she had already sustained that night. Maddy felt nauseous. In the last few minutes she had felt a whirlwind of different feelings, but now the full reality of her injury hit her and Maddy became overwhelmed by pain. The last thing that she remembered after this was Rhydian growling at Ceri forcefully, and he partially chasing her away as he released her. After that the darkness consumed her.


	4. The Reunion

Rhydian's mind was flooded with questions as he chased after Ceri. (He refused to call her 'Mum' now after what had just happened.) But the main two that kept reoccurring in his confused mind were '_H__HHHH hjH__ow could she do such a thing as attack Maddy, no matter how much she dislikes her, when she knows how much it would hurt me, her son?' _and _'Have I lost Maddy for good this time?' _The last question made Rhydian turn around and run back to Maddy, letting Ceri go free, as he realised that Maddy's life was unimaginably more important than his revenge.

As Rhydian approached Maddy's body, lying bloody on the ground, he couldn't tell if there was any life left in her. He knelt down at her side as he held back his tears, and prayed for a positive outcome. Maddy still did not move so Rhydian put his mouth to her ear and questioned, 'Maddy? Maddy are you there? Please…' He couldn't continue speaking as he choked on his tears, but he stayed in place, trying to be optimistic for a reply.

A few moments later, to Rhydian's relief and uncontrollable joy, Maddy began to stir. She had felt Rhydians warm, soothing breath against her face, and she was transported back to reality. Rhydian held his breath as she opened her eyes, tears now truly running down his face, and was greeted by Maddy's soft voice calling his name. 'Rhydian?'

'I'm here Mads, look, I'm here!' Rhydian replied, causing smiles to light up both of their faces. Now that he had finally got to speak to her, after not having been able to do so for six months, he couldn't stop himself from saying all of the things that he'd been waiting to say to her, and so he continued. 'But I should have been here a long time ago and I know it doesn't begin to cover it but I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am for everything. For leaving you, believing that I could be happy in a pack without you, but most of all for not telling you how I felt about you before and-'

Maddy could no longer bear the look of regret in Rhydian's deep blue eyes. She knew he was about to start saying how everything was his fault when, in truth, she felt it was all hers, and she neither wanted to nor had the strength to argue with him when they had just been reunited. This led to her grabbing hold of his shirt and pulling him down into a gentle, yet passionate, kiss, rendering Rhydian unable to (or wanting to) speak. He simply, without thinking put one hand in Maddy's hair, allowing him to stroke it comfortingly, and one hand on her neck. Neither Rhydian, nor Maddy, could dislike the sensations the interaction caused. They both suddenly felt warmth in the bottom of their stomachs from the moment their lips met, and from that point onwards, neither could think of anything else but of the taste of the other's lips. Their minds were empty of all thoughts, and their chests became free of all pain as they felt their hearts returning to them, making them both want that single moment to last forever.

When the pair separated they simply stared into each other's eyes. All was silent in the forest. The wind was gone, and the sound of the nearby river flowing was absent from their ears. The silence was only broken by Rhydian, a minute later, as he spoke. 'Mads, I love you.'

'I love you too, Rhydi-' was all the reply that Maddy could make when on the last word, she felt a sharp pain shoot across her chest and she screamed, startling Rhydian into a state of terror. He looked down at her body to find his arm had been leant on her chest whilst he had had his hand on her neck. He saw that he had leant on one of the slashes inflicted by Ceri, causing Maddy to writhe in pain. Lost in the moment previously, both had completely forgotten Maddy's wounds. Rhydian lifted the arm that he had been leant on her with to see that it was now covered in blood.

Maddy returned to the sea of darkness.


	5. The Help

Rhydian was momentarily stunned by how he could be so oblivious to the serious state of Maddy's health. '_How the hell did I manage to forget about what's just happened?'_ was the first thing to cross Rhydian's mind. However, straight after this, he felt himself fill with panic as he wondered, '_WHAT THE HELL DO I DO?!'_

Rhydian had always been told not to move an injured person in case they'd hurt their back or neck, but he didn't know what else to do. Dark clouds had filled the sky above them, making him unable to see properly due to the lack of light, and rain had begun to pour, hard and quick, from the air above. The only thing that Rhydian did feel sure of at the moment was that the rain could only make Maddy worse, although he did like the way masked the tears now streaming down his face, so he cradled her in his arms and lifted her, lightly and swiftly, from the ground, and headed for the house.

After having ran as fast and smoothly as he could with Maddy's delicate body in his arms, he entered the house and called out. 'MR SMITH? MRS SMITH? PLEASE! HELP! MADDY'S HURT!' No reply came. With the house's emptiness as his incentive, he used his own initiative and ran upstairs. When he found Maddy's room he gently placed her on the bed, and then pulled the collar of her blood-soaked shirt down to allow him to survey the damage to her chest. Rhydian found three great slashes, oozing with blood. This caused his mind to go into meltdown as he saw what his return had done. Just at that moment, Rhydian saw Maddy's eyelashes begin to flutter again with consciousness. 'Mads?'

'Rhydian?' She slurred the words, her eyes now tightly closed. 'Mam? Dad?'

'Maddy? Maddy it's me.' He felt the need to rush his speech to get everything in before she left reality again. 'Your Mum and Dad aren't here, where are they? I need their numbers to call them.' He was shaking now.

Maddy was drifting back to sleep now, but she managed to softly whisper the word, 'Mobile.'

Rhydian looked to Maddy's bedside table now and found her mobile lying on it. He snatched the heavy piece of plastic up, went to the contacts list, and pressed, '_Call Mum.'_

Rhydian held the device to his ear as it rang. Suddenly, half-way through a ring, a mature, female, voice answered. 'Y'alright Pet? We're just on her way home no-'

Maddy's Mum, Emma, was startled as she was cut off by a voice that not only wasn't her daughter's, as the caller ID on her phone told her it would be, but it was also a voice that she thought (and in truth, hoped) that she'd never hear again. 'Mrs Smith! Please don't hang up!' Rhydian's voice had lost all of its usual cool tone as now he was pleading through tears. 'Listen! You need to hurry! Maddy's hurt! Ceri attacked her! An-'

Emma hanged up. She needed to hear no more. She ordered Maddy's Dad, Daniel, to put his foot down as they were nearing the house in the car. Both Dan and Emma leapt out on arrival, leaving the engine running and the doors wide open, hurrying into the house. One behind the other, they ran up the stairs, leaving muddy footprints behind them. They entered Maddy's room.

Only gasps were to be heard as the Smiths saw their daughter's chest bloody, and her hand in that of the one person whom they despised most of all in the world.


	6. If

Emma ran over to the opposite side of the bed to Rhydian. How could this have happened to her darling daughter?

'Dan, get me a flannel and a bowl of warm water, then go get my first aid box from the kitchen.' Emma's hysteria at seeing her daughter hurt melted away as she saw she had a job to do. She began to rip away Maddy's shirt to allow easy access to her wounds, whilst Dan hurried himself in the en suite with getting the water. 'What happened?' Emma asked sternly, not making eye contact with Rhydian.

'I don't know. It all happened so quick. I'm sorry I didn't have time to save her, I-'

Emma interrupted his mumbling. 'Rhydian,' her eyes now met his, 'what happened?'

Rhydian collected his thoughts and began. 'I came back to see how Maddy was doing, and to check that Shannon and Tom had kept their words to keep what we all are secret, and, in truth, because I've missed her.' Dan now entered with the water and then left to fetch the first aid kit. Emma began to clean the wounds. Neither of them knew what to make of what Rhydian had just said. If he cared so much, why did he leave? 'But, anyway… I was watching her from a tree,' he realised how that sounded when he said it, but carried on regardless for the sake of hurrying up, 'and Ceri had followed me and found me. She was unbelievably angry and we argued, and I suppose Maddy heard us, and that's when she came outside. But then when Ceri saw her, she snapped. She changed and attacked before I or Maddy could change and stop her. I only managed to get rid of her when she was about to attack again.' The pain of having to relive these events in his mind showed on Rhydians face. At this point he paused, feeling it was too much to describe the horror of the sight of Maddy lying on the forest floor after the attack. Instead he decided to continue his apologies and self-hating. 'I'm so sorry Mrs Smith, truly. If I could swap places with her, then I would, in a heartbeat. If I could only have stopped Cer-'

'Look, all of these 'ifs' aren't going to change anything now, and they're certainly not going to help Maddy.' Emma's tone had suddenly become softer, she could see that Rhydian really was as distressed as, and did care for Maddy as much as, herself and Dan, but her voice still held the seriousness of the situation. 'If you want to help her, look in that cupboard for some thicker blankets, we need to keep her warm.'

Dan returned after this exchange with the first aid kit. As Emma had been re-joined with her medical companion, and the wound was now clean, she set about trying to improve the wounds. She stitched the deep cuts, sterilised them with a strong smelling, honey-coloured liquid, and tried to stop her daughter from getting cold, all with the help of Rhydian. When everything had been done that could be, and Maddy was in a less painful sleep than before (thanks to some very strong painkillers), Maddy's mum tried to convince Rhydian to go get some sleep in the spare room as herself and Dan were going to bed also. Maddy would not wake for hours. However Rhydian refused and decided to spend all night in the chair next to Maddy's bed. He couldn't leave her now when she needed him, not again.

'How is she?' Dan asked, nervous for the reply, as he and his wife got into bed at two in the morning.

'Honestly?' She sighed as she faced up to the facts of the scenario. 'She's not good. She'll heal and she'll live, but it's going to be painful for a while yet. I just wish the full moon was tonight so that it could heal her. And even then, she might still be scarred for the rest of her life. 'All was quiet as they both took in the idea of their beautiful daughter being scarred forevermore.

'How's he doing?' Dan questioned a few moments later. It was beginning to sound as though he felt sympathetic towards Rhydian. But Mr Smith had a hard look on his face to contradict this idea, surely he couldn't feel sympathy after all of the pain and suffering the person in question had caused his only child?

'He's not so good either. He can't stop blaming himself, and he won't move from her bedside.' She let out another thoughtful sigh and went on. 'I hate to say this after everything that has happened, but I think we've been wrong about him. He does really seem to care about Maddy.' Dan's face was pulled in shock at his wife's revelation, so she took the silence as an opportunity to put her point across fully before he argued back. 'I know he left, and I know it broke her heart to lose him, and I know we called him selfish for it. But what if we were wrong? What if at first he was selfish and left for himself, but then, what if he too was unhappy and only stayed away to protect her because he knew returning would cause, well, this?'

'But if that was the case,' Daniel considered, 'wouldn't he have stayed away and not come back now?'

'Maybe he felt the same without her as she has without him? He might not have been able to bear it any longer. He said to me that he only meant to check up on her by coming back, he didn't mean to actually stay, or even let her know he came at all. Maybe he thought Ceri wouldn't know and he'd get to see Maddy and keep her safe?' Emma tried to reason with her other half, but in all honesty, both of them were too exhausted for this conversation now. It had been a long day, and what felt like an even longer night.

'Who knows?' was Daniel's tired reply. 'But I'm keeping an eye on him, either way. And if he has come back to stay, he's got a lot of making up to do, that's for sure,' he added, before snuggling down into bed next to his wife, and falling asleep just as another in the house was awakening.


	7. Pillow Talk

In the smallest, occupied, bedroom of the house, Rhydian was trying to fight the urge to close his eyes. He didn't want to sleep. Maddy might wake up and need him. He needed to stay awake for her sake, she was his priority from now on.

In the bed next to Rhydian's chair, Maddy was beginning to stir. The painkillers had started to wear off, allowing her to slowly awaken from her uneasy sleep. 'Rhydian?' Maddy whispered. 'Rhydian? Are you awake?' She didn't want to speak to loudly in case he really was asleep. She wasn't the only one who needed to rest after the day they'd had.

Rhydian jumped to attention at the sound of her voice. He was so glad to see Maddy properly awake and not in shock from seeing him, or too apparently in pain from her injuries. It made Rhydian smile. 'I'm here Mads. Do you want me to get your Mum? Do you need something?' He would not let himself fall under the illusion that Maddy would choose to speak to him right now, after everything that had happened, before her family. He'd pushed her away. Rhydian would understand if Maddy wanted to do the same to him. However, no such request for space between them, or for a different person than him, came.

'No, no,' she silenced his queries, 'I'm fine here with you.' Maddy returned his smile, then out of nowhere, worry struck her face like it had so often struck Rhydian's lately. 'I didn't wake you, did I? I'm sorry if I did.' She stared nervously down at her hands now.

'Don't be stupid. And besides, being woken up by you is a_ pleasure_ after not seeing you for so long.'

Maddy raised her head now to see the expression on Rhydian's face. As Maddy did this, their eyes met for a few seconds, before they both looked away again, blushing.

'How'd you feel?'Rhydian asked lightly, although really he was trying his best to hide his deep concern for Maddy's welfare.

'If I don't think about the pain, I won't feel it.' This was Maddy's hint to him to change the subject.

'Right… Sorry.' Rhydian said this with none of his usual confidence or boyish charm.

'And you can stop that right now!'

'Stop what?' Rhydian was confused.

'Apologising! I heard you saying sorry to Mam too when you thought I was unconscious! None of this is your fault!'

'But it is Mads! I should never have come back! If I wouldn't have come back, you would still be fine! You wouldn't be hurt!' He protested.

'But I would be and you know it! You saw it! Physically I might have been unharmed, but mentally I'd have been exactly the same as I've been every day since you've left!' Maddy was finally starting to regain some of the fire that had been missing from her in the months of Rhydian's absence. She sat bolt upright now so as to be able to be at the same height as him in his chair. The sudden movement caused her to yelp in pain, making Rhydian jump up so that he could help.

'Are you sure that you don't need some more painkiller? I can easily get you some, we needn't bother your Mum.' He took hold of her shoulders and helped to slowly ease her back down into her bed.

Her eyes had a hint of resentment in them now. 'Trust me. This is nothing compared to what it's been like while you've been away.' She wished that she could retract the statement as soon as she had said it. She hadn't thought before she'd spoke.

Rhydian paused as soon as the sentence was said. An awkward silence filled the room. Rhydian saw Maddy looking apologetically into his face. 'I suppose I deserve that.' He said this to acknowledge Maddy's words, but show that he would let them go.

'No, no you don't. I'm sorry Rhyd-' She was cut off.

'Yes I do!' He realised that he'd raised his voice in anger at the disagreement now. He took a deep, calming, breath before carrying on at a lower volume. 'Forget about returning, if I'd have never left in the first place, and just found a way to get rid of Ceri, then we'd still be like we were, we'd still be happy…' He got lost in his only thought for a moment before returning back to earth. 'But no. I had to be selfish. I left, not because I thought it was the right thing to do, but because I thought it was what I wanted. It turned out I was wrong.'

'But you're here now, and that's all I care about-' This fell on deaf ears as Rhydian interrupted again.

'I tried to come back Mads. Almost straight away, truthfully, I did. But I wanted to leave on a good note with Ceri, so I was naïve enough to tell her that I wanted to come back. She said that she wouldn't let me. I said that I'd come back anyway. That's when she threatened to do what she's now done.' Rhydian was a mess now. His speech was rushed and he no longer even looked at Maddy or waited for her reply. He was in a world of his own. It sounded like he was trying to convince himself of his needing to stay away, rather than trying to convince Maddy.

'Rhydian, I-' Maddy saw the anger and self-hatred building inside Rhydian before she broke off as he leapt up and ran from her room, down the stairs, and out of her house into the dark.


	8. Hunted

Maddy had no idea what had just happened, but she was going to find out, that she would make sure of. She climbed her way out of bed and pulled on her boots and a jacket that had been flung onto her floor some days earlier, whilst trying not to cry out in pain from doing all of these activities. If Maddy made so much as one of the floorboards squeak as she snuck out of the house, her parents would surely hear and stop her from going after Rhydian, which she knew that she had to do.

The night air had a bite to it. It was the beginning of October and the clouds blocked all traces of moonlight from lighting Maddy's way, but this made no difference to Maddy. She was a wolfblood. She once ran all night long through the woods, which she now entered alone, with Rhydian. The dark was like a second home to Maddy now, she definitely didn't fear it like a little cub. Contrary to this, she did fear things that went bump in the night, like the smashing of an empty beer bottle.

Maddy had left the forest when she heard this noise and was now in a familiar street, shouting Rhydian's name. 'Rhydian!' She had been calling out for what felt like hours, and still there was no sign of him, however she did attract somebody else's attention. Maddy looked across the street to find the source of the noise, that's when she saw them. Next to a bench which Maddy herself had spent many hours chatting to Shannon sitting on, stood four large men. Each of them had at least four beer bottles, cradled in their arms, and an extra one in each of their pockets. Another bottle broke on the ground – this was how they chose to get rid of their empties. The entire group of men were loudly slurring their words and sluggishly moving as though they were in slow motion. They were all staring at Maddy with eager looks on their aged faces. She noticed this, and decided that the best thing to do would be to carry on walking, hastily, but without showing that she was scared, with her head down and hood up. Power walking was causing Maddy to swing her arms, which made her injuries throb unbearably. She was close to crying, and had started to make small whimpering sounds with each movement, when they started to follow her.

'You alright darlin'? You in pain?' All of the other inebriated men were stood behind the scruffy speaker, smiling. 'We can help ya, here just have a drink with us.' Maddy could only just tell what the man was saying. All of his words seemed to form an endless slur in his thick, Geordie, accent. Where one word ended, another had already begun.

'No, thank you.' Maddy nervously replied. She continued to speed on in front of them, but they were catching up. Maddy would run, but she didn't know where to go. Her mind was frozen in fear.

This carried on for a few more minutes. Them, trying to convince her to go with them. Her, each time, simply replying, 'No, thankyou.' The men, although drunk, had managed to follow Maddy into a part of the village that, strangely, had never visited before. That's when she saw an alleyway which she thought that she could escape down. She took off running at her super human speeds, when the alley suddenly curved, revealing to her a dead end.

The men were approaching behind her, calling out. 'Hey, where'd you go pretty girl?' They were laughing. At the end of the alley she met a tall, concrete, wall which, under normal circumstances, she could easily scale and leap over to safety, but these weren't normal circumstances. Maddy's shoulders had been caught too, as well as her chest, when Ceri had clawed her. She was trapped and didn't know what else she could do. In her anguish, she had one thought stopping her from collapsing: Rhydian. He was still out there somewhere. She had to get away and find him before he did something stupid.

The men stumbled around the alley's bend after Maddy, in their drunken delight. All that Maddy could think to herself was, '_Rhydian, I'm scared.'_


	9. Eolas

When Rhydian had left the house, he had no clear plan in his mind of where to go. '_Really, where can I go? I'm not going back to Ceri ever again, the Vaughans (_his last foster parents whom he lived with in Stoneybridge) _ have probably moved on to having some other foster kid and will have completely forgotten that I ever existed, and Maddy… the guilt's too much to bear, especially around her parents. I know that they haven't said anything yet, but that's because Maddy's been injured. Pretty soon they'll tell me that re-joining their pack is out of the question after what I did, and me and Mads will be separated again, so what difference will it make if I start now?'_

Rhydian went round and round in his head, thinking over these same thoughts for hours. He was allowing his guilt to consume him, he was being convinced to leave again, for good this time, by this one emotion alone. Guilt was being put before everything else, including his feelings for Maddy and the things they'd been through, together and in their dark periods apart. Rhydian had just started letting this emotion make him think that Maddy would be fine, in fact better off, without him, when suddenly he felt himself compelled to kneel to the ground in the deep covering of the forest's trees, and he found himself unintentionally using Eolas.

_Maddy was surrounded by men twice as tall as her and at least four or five times her age. She was in a place that Rhydian could not identify, but it looked like an alley – with no way out._

In the woods, Rhydian was still knelt down, his face creased in concentration, the hairs raised on the back of his neck, and his black veins beginning to show. He felt anxious about his vision. A mixture of anger and fear were beginning to make his stomach turn as he watched.

_The drunken messes were closing in on Maddy now, who was crouched on the floor, willing herself to change – she didn't. She couldn't. After her earlier attack, she had been left too weak to transform without a full moon, even if it was as soon as tomorrow. Maddy's eyes didn't even make it to the golden orbs of a wolfblood, although she was wishing for the colour to flood her eyes and scare the men away, they barely made it to the inky black stage which came before the fully blown, golden, fiery, suns appeared. Maddy really was trapped. She simply stayed low and wrapped herself up in a ball, trying to conceal her petrified face. _

Rhydian had never seen Maddy look so vulnerable, or frightened, before. In truth, the closest thing to actual, mind-warping, milk-curdling,_ fear_ he could ever remember seeing on her face before was on the night of her first full-moon transformation, whilst staying with their peers on Lindisfarne island , and even then, she seemed to feel more nervous than scared.

Rhydian rose from his spot, with this comparison still lingering on his mind, making him realise the severity of Maddy's current predicament. In the few moments that Rhydian had stood watching Maddy, next to the river which flowed between the trees, her fear had become his fear. Her problem was now his problem.


	10. The Defence

Maddy wrapped her arms around her legs in a hug and pressed her forehead against her knees, all in order to keep all of her limbs tightly together and her face hidden. Her eyelids were glued shut. She refused to look at her stalkers.

Rhydian ran faster than he ever had before, he neither cared about, nor even felt the lactic acid building in his muscles which would normally burn so much that he had to stop. The only thing he cared about was Maddy. He allowed his instinct to carry him along, as he kept his eyes shut whilst he used Eolas to monitor her. He needed to hurry up. The men were closing in.

She listened to their footsteps; they were getting louder as they got nearer. Maddy felt herself jump with fear each time that a heel made contact with the floor. She sensed that they were within touching distance of her now, but, without warning, the footsteps stopped. Then there was a great thud on the floor 20 yards away from her. Maddy took a deep breath to steady herself in her confusion at what was going on, and then opened her eyes.

Rhydian! It was Rhydian! Words could not describe Maddy's shock and ecstasy at seeing him, even more so than those few hours ago when they were reunited after six, long, deadening, months apart. He had rugby tackled, unbelievably, every man at once. He got up from the ground and left them there in wonder, his back was to Maddy, but his arms were outstretched protectively to block them from her. She had never seen him so angry before. He was literally shaking with the force of his inner wolf dying to burst out and rip the drunks' heads off. His eyes were a vibrant gold; his black veins had stretched to the tips of his fingers and covered his face.

'What is this?!' one man cried in his disorientated state. None of the men wanted to look, but they couldn't take their eyes off Rhydian.

'IF ANY OF YOU SO MUCH AS COME NEAR HER, OR IN FACT ANY YOUNG GIRLS, AGAIN, LET ALONE STALK THEM, I WILL PERSONALLY, ONE BY ONE, HUNT YOU DOWN SO THAT THE REST OF YOU KNOW WHAT'S COMING, AND I WILL GIVE YOU THE MOST EXCRUCIATING DEATHS THAT HAVE EVER BEEN KNOWN BY ANY SPECIES EVER, NEVER MIND ONLY KNOWN BY MAN!' Rhydian roared. The threat was sincere and, more importantly, a promise. The men, although drunk, clearly understood this by the constant growl which ran under every word of Rhydian's speech. 'NOW GO!' The men all clumsily got to their feet and ran the best that they could whilst under the influence. 'DON'T YOU EVER LET ME SEE YOUR FACES AGAIN!'

Rhydian stood there for a minute in silence, still with all of the anger present in his features, until Maddy called him back to the moment.

'Rhydian?' As soon as he heard her call his name, all of his anger began to melt away. His eyes returned to their natural light shade, his skin was no longer plagued by black highlighting his veins, and he turned to look at Maddy with a soft, concerned look on his face.

'Rhydian, I-' was all Maddy meekly managed to get out before Rhydian hastened towards her, fell down in front of her, and encased her in his arms, praying that he could keep her in them, safe, for all eternity. Maddy too wished the hug would never end; she could stay in his tight embrace forever. Her face was pressed into the side of his neck, allowing him to feel her tears. In Rhydian's arms, as anger had left him, all traces of pain had left Maddy. Her hurt chest was nothing compared to what she had just been through. They both hoped dearly that she would never have to go through anything like that again.


	11. Promise

Neither Maddy nor Rhydian could believe the eventfulness of the night which was now coming to a close; Rhydian coming back, Maddy being attacked by Ceri, Maddy's condition being touch and go, Rhydian running away, again, Maddy almost being attacked, again, whilst looking for him, Rhydian saving her. It had all gone by in a flash.

As the moon disappeared from the sky, and the sun began to peep above the horizon, Rhydian and Maddy exhaustedly made their way back to the house. They had passed Bernie's and were now taking a shortcut through the woods when Rhydian began to speak.

'What were you doing down that alley, anyway?' he asked as he stopped to look Maddy wholly in the eyes. He trusted Maddy more than anyone and knew that she would never lie to him, but he still felt the need to meet the gateways of her soul out of habit; 12 years' worth of foster families had taught him that this was one sure way to get the truth. He wanted no avoidance of his question, no embellishment or exaggeration; he wanted the truth.

'I'd been looking for you and they followed me, I didn't even know where I was and didn't know the alley was a dead end, so I ran down it thinking I could escape.' Once she had said this they both broke their eye-contact and looked at the ground in thought. Maddy took a step forward, thinking that the conversation was over and they should carry on home so that she could have some more painkiller for her chest, when Rhydian suddenly ran over to her and pulled her into him, wrapping his arms around her. This confused her.

'Maddy, I need you to promise me that you'll never put yourself in so much danger ever again because of me,' he now held her at arm's length to look deep into her eyes again, determined to get her word, 'please…'

'Rhydian, I… You know that I can't do that.' She left his hold and stepped backwards to put more space between them, allowing her room to think. How could he ask her that?

'What do you mean you can't?' He was bewildered.

'I mean I can't. Why would you even ask that, Rhydian? You know that I would never agree to it.' Maddy retorted.

'But why not?!' He was beginning to get angry at her refusal now.

'For the same reason that you'd say no if I asked the same thing of you!' This silenced them both. Rhydian put his hands over his head in exasperation. When he eventually did speak, it was with a renewed calmness.

'But you don't understand Maddy, you have to.' He now stopped his pacing, which had begun in the silence, to look at Maddy intently. He had to make her understand.

'Why do I have to?' Maddy's tone of voice showed that she did not accept Rhydian's authority and thought of the whole thing as ridiculous.

'BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO!' Rhydian's poise was gone and even the newly risen birds had quietened now. 'Because I could never take it if you were to be hurt because of me, again.'

This struck a chord with Maddy. She stopped her internal mocking of Rhydian's request to really look at him. He was quivering all over. He looked different. He looked changed; he was no longer sure or collected looking in his stance or face, he now looked worried. Worried and scared. This abrupt opposition to the norm in Rhydian tugged on Maddy's heart strings, making her do the only thing that she could; run to him, cradle his face in her arms and then, gently, press her lips against his, making the anger they both once felt feel like a distant memory.

When they both withdrew from the kiss it was Maddy's turn to look into Rhydian's eyes. 'If you don't want me to be hurt again, there's only one thing you need do.'

Rhydian looked down from Maddy's gaze, a small smile playing on his lips at the amusement of the idea that it would only take one thing to satisfy someone as ambitious as Maddy. 'And what's that?' He humoured her, seeing the importance of this in Maddy's deep, brown, eyes.

'Stay.'


	12. Differences

**Sorry for the delays recently with new chapters being posted, but I've had a lot to do regarding my education etc. Also, I don't want to post a chapter that's rushed or that has a half-baked plot, I need to be sure of where I'm going with this to avoid it getting boring. I'm doing my best.**

**Also F.Y.I. Wolfblood series 2 starts on the CBBC channel in the UK 9****th**** September **

Maddy and Rhydian were enjoying the fun and rush of the moment; running through the trees, jumping over the stream, bouncing from tree trunk to tree trunk, whilst on their way to school that cold Monday morning. It had been the full moon the night before, and so now Maddy suffered no impediment to her movement. Both of the bright-eyed teens seemed careless to the world around, but both felt burdened with uncertainty.

Earlier the previous morning, Maddy asked something of Rhydian; she'd asked him to stay. He didn't reply. He couldn't. Although Maddy had tried her hardest to convince Rhydian that he was right to return, he couldn't believe it. Especially now that Maddy's beautiful body was scarred for life. He blamed himself for this, and felt constantly made aware of it every time he looked at her. Even in her school uniform, there were changes which reminded him of what had happened. Maddy used to hate buttoning up the top two buttons on her shirt, it was uncomfortable, she had claimed, and her tie used to hang loosely and low around her neck. However now, her shirt was perfectly buttoned up all of the way, and the knot of her tie was tied tightly under her collar; this way she could hide her suspicious marks and hence avoid questions.

Nothing could make Rhydian feel better about his return; nothing. Not even Mr and Mrs Vaughan welcoming him back with open arms the day before. Mr and Mrs Smith had felt obliged to inform them that Rhydian was back, causing them to dash around to the Smith family home in excitement to see him. They were so overjoyed that they took him back no questions asked about the last six months; all that mattered to them was that he was there now. Rhydian too had felt relief at being reunited, he even admitted privately to Maddy that he had actually missed them more than he thought he would, but nothing was more important to Rhydian than Maddy, and her scars were his scars too – he would never be able to forgive himself for what had happened to her, no matter what.

As Maddy ran through the trees she would glance across at Rhydian's face out of the corner of her eye and catch him observing her. Maddy never said anything about it as she felt it might have a devastating effect on their fragile relationship, but no matter how Rhydian tried to conceal it she knew what he was thinking. Maddy knew that Guilt was twisting Rhydian's mind over the events since his return; this was excruciating for Maddy to see in her love's eyes every time she looked into them. Rhydian's return was the best thing to have ever happened since she met him for the very first time all of those months ago; these were the two, single, greatest events to have ever have occurred in Maddy's life, in her opinion, and it killed her to know that Rhydian thought differently.

Maddy and Rhydian began to slow to a normal, human, pace as the school came into sight, both stopping at the edge of the playground.

'Ready for this Rhydian? Ready for a day full of questions, awkward silences and stares?' Maddy asked jovially, yet both knew what she predicted would come to pass.

'Are you ready for it?' He held out his arm for Maddy to take, with a look on his face that she found hilarious.

'I am if you are', replied Maddy, linking his arm.

'Then let us precede Miss Smith.'

'After you, Mr Morris.' They both giggled and began to move forward, naturally unlinking their arms as they went. It felt like old times to both of them, but so much better as now they both were on the same page with regards to how the other felt, even if their relationship was delicate at the moment. They had decided that morning their relationship was not something that they wanted to broadcast, especially since not even Maddy's parents or best friends knew yet. There was going to be plenty talk about Maddy and Rhydian over the next few days, their peers had quite enough gossip to be getting on with.

As the couple made their way deeper into the playground, more faces began to turn in their direction, the volume was starting to grow lower, and then a significant pair of people turned around in curiosity at what the fuss was about. The flaming red-head's mouth dropped in shock at the sight which had halted before her, whilst her tall, lean, male, friend's forehead creased in anger.

'You have _got_ to be joking me!'


	13. Questions

'Tom!?' Maddy was so confused by his reaction, it was not at all what she had expected. Whilst getting ready this morning, Maddy had played out Tom and Shannon's seeing Rhydian again in her mind in several different ways, but she had not thought of this. _Joking?_ What was there to joke about? Maddy had thought that Tom and Shannon would welcome him back with hugs and question him about his time as a wild wolfblood; but this was not the case. Nobody was smiling. Rhydian's face had dropped as Tom marched intently towards him, closing the gap between them. He was now looking as though he was squaring up to Rhydian (_surely_ Tom wasn't actually thinking about starting a fight which he clearly has no chance of winning? Was he really that stupid?) Tom was right in his face.

'What are you doing here? Come back to cause more trouble? Come back to hurt Maddy some more?' Tom's tone was angry and sarcastic, two things that he rarely was.

Rhydian was struck by Tom's directness, but he wasn't going to let shock stop his reply.

'What… No! I've not come back to cause trouble, I've never meant to cause trouble at all! And I've definitely never meant to deliberately hurt Maddy! That's the last thing I'd ever want to do! I've come back because-'

'Because what? Because you missed her? Because you care about her? Because you couldn't live without her?' Tom was hitting a nerve here; the blood in Rhydian's veins was beginning to flow black. 'Aw. It's all very touching. But you want to know what I think? I think it's because you'd had enough of the wild-life, and knew that she'd have you back in a heartbeat.'

Tom's words had been calm yet they showed his distaste at Rhydian's homecoming, but although the audience could see how he felt, they didn't understand exactly what he meant. What did he mean? Had Rhydian been sleeping rough? Why would Maddy be so forgiving? What even was there to forgive? The minds of the watching school-children were racing.

At Tom's last sentence Rhydian almost snapped and pounced: but he didn't. Maddy had been watching Rhydian's reaction and saw that Tom was getting to him. At the exact moment that he would have changed, Maddy grabbed Rhydian's arm. At Maddy's touch, his head snapped around to face her. Maddy gave Rhydian a stern but understanding look, causing Rhydian to force himself to take a deep breath and calm down before his eyes began to yellow.

Shannon had stayed silent at Tom's side the entire time, observing the situation.

'I don't really think that we should do this here, too many prying eyes,' Shannon declared, slightly raising her voice towards the end so that the spectators could hear, causing her fellow students to act as though they weren't listening. 'Darkroom?' suggested Shannon.

'Of course.' replied Rhydian.

'Why not?' agreed Tom.

Both boys held each other's gaze for a moment then began to lead off to the darkroom. Maddy and Shannon followed close behind.

'What the hell is wrong with you Mads?!' Tom turned on Maddy as soon as Shannon bolted shut the door.

'What?'

'What do you mean 'what'? You know what. He left you Mads. He didn't even say goodbye, he just left without a thought for you, so how could you let him back into your life so easily? Can I remind you of how hurt you were when he left? How damaged you were still only a few days ago? Maddy you shut down! He left and we had to pick up the pieces!'

Tom had reduced Maddy to steady, silent, tears now, it was reminiscent of how she had spent the last few months past; in tears over Rhydian's departure. Her wet eyes were focused on a point in the distance; she was back in her world of pain at the reminder of her destruction.

'Tom-'

'What?' He bitterly replied to Rhydian with a look of deep disgust on his face, like he smelt something bad.

Rhydian took a deep breath and begun, 'I'm sorry about leaving, truly I am. It's the biggest mistake that I've ever made and if I could take it back I would. But I can't. As soon as I left I wanted to come straight back. B-'

'Then why didn't you then!?'Tom was not only angry, but irritated now too. He wanted answers.

'Because of Ceri! I knew that if I came back she'd never give up trying to bring me back home! But then, one day, she went one step further and threatened Maddy, she went off on a massive tirade about the things that she'd love to do to her if she ever saw her again!' Rhydian's eyes had merged from blue to yellow now; yellow with anger, yellow with fear, yellow at the threat he felt posed towards Maddy. 'I… I had to stay away-'

'Then what's changed! How come you're back now?!'

'I didn't mean to come back! I only meant to check-up! I just wanted to make sure that everything was ok, then leave, but Mads saw me…' His eyes had calmed at the thought of Maddy. His face darted to hers, and then to the place which her scars were hidden. His face held an expression that resembled that of somebody being tortured. 'And…' Rhydian trailed off, he was no longer really aware of the fact that he was mid-conversation; his mind had been submerged in a flashback of Ceri's attack.

'And…?' Questioned Tom, just as the form bell began to chime, bringing Rhydian back to reality.

'We'd better get to form.' Maddy was glad of the excuse to end the discussion there, she didn't want anyone to know about her scars, even Shannon and Tom; her best friends. She and Rhydian dashed their way out of the darkroom and joined the rest of their form in Jeffries room, where they were of course greeted with many stares and questions about Rhydian's sudden reappearance.


	14. PE

Maddy's day, she thought, could not get any worse. Tom had been giving her and Rhydian harsh glances all day, causing the upset of the morning's meeting never to completely leave her mind. She had been down all day and unable to concentrate on her work. '_What if he leaves again because of this? What if this is the tip of the iceberg?' _was all that ran through Maddy's head. Her mind was filled with uncertainty and she needed to let go and de-stress with a run. It was fourth period; P.E. Maddy prayed for cross country to be today's activity, but instead it was netball for the girls and football for the boys.

Maddy had exited the changing rooms, after having pulled on her very loose fitting polo-shirt and shorts, and headed to the sports grounds outside. She was chosen to be on Katrina's team and the match began. Maddy threw herself into the match to try to occupy herself with something other than Tom and Rhydian, but it was impossible when they were playing their game on the pitch right next to them.

Maddy was in the goal-keeper position and had, as yet, been unchallenged by the opposing team, until Kay got the ball. Kay was the best netball player in the school, and when she was in goal attack, like today, her team never loss. Maddy knew that she needed to focus as Kay was pivoting round to face her and take a shot, but she couldn't; Tom was attempting to shoot the ball into Rhydian's goal, and though she knew there was no danger of Rhydian being physically hurt by Tom, she still had to watch out of a strange, irrational, fear for his welfare. The distraction caused Maddy to jump aimlessly in front of the net when Kay shot, causing the ball to be deflected, however Maddy had forgotten to land and so fell on her front onto the hard stone floor.

Maddy yelped in pain, her fresh scars had grazed against the ground and began to bleed. At the sound of Maddy's distress, Shannon and Miss Graham (their teacher) ran over, along with the rest of the class and Tom and Rhydian who had left their own Game to aid Maddy.

'MADS!' Cried Rhydian as he approached her body.

'Maddy? Maddy, are you ok?' questioned Miss Graham.

Unthinkingly, Maddy rolled over onto her back to take the pressure off her chest. Her bloodied, white, polo-shirt had become unbuttoned and so exposed part of Ceri's damage, causing the spectators to gasp in shock at the wounds.

'Maddy, what happened to your chest?' Miss Graham sounded even more concerned now as blood continued to soak Maddy's top.

'Dog,' was all Maddy could think of to explain the mysterious scratches, it was all she could manage to say too as she tried to hold back her tears. She looked into Rhydian's eyes as he knelt beside her trying to sooth her by stroking her hair. The look was significant; it was as if Maddy was saying _I'm sorry_ for people seeing the cuts, but also _make something up_ as she was inferior to Rhydian at making up lies.

Tom had been stood over Maddy; he still felt a need to protect her although he wasn't happy with her recent decisions. He had caught the look between Maddy and Rhydian and misinterpreted it.

'This was you, wasn't it?' He directed at Rhydian with a look of revolt on his face. 'Did you do that to Maddy?'

Rhydian faced Tom and stood up to meet his eyes.

'No… Tom… I-'

'IT WAS YOU WASN'T IT?!' Tom had lost his patience now. 'WAS IT YOU RHYDIAN? YES OR NO?'

'NO!' Everybody's attention was back on Maddy now as she sat up to display her sanity and authority in order to silence Tom. 'NO! NO IT WASN'T, TOM! Like I said, it was a stray dog in the woods! Alright!?'

'Maddy, you expect me to believe that-'

'Enough Tom! Can't you see that Maddy is stressed enough right now?' Tom restrained himself as this was pointed out to him, for the sake of his friend. Rhydian continued to glare at him. 'Maddy, did you hurt your legs or back? Are you ok to walk?'

'I'll be fine Miss,' Maddy confirmed just so she could get away from the crowd as soon as possible. Miss Graham took Maddy under one of her arms, and instructed Shannon to do the same, allowing them to help Maddy up.

'Come on then, let's go clean you up.' The three of them began to make their way inside as Miss Graham remembered the others. 'Erm, Kara, you be ref and continue play for another five minutes, then lead the warm down and bring everyone back inside. Tom, Rhydian, back to your own match.'

Rhydian and Tom both held each other's eyes for a moment as they removed themselves from the netball court. Neither of them was happy. Tom still wanted understanding, Rhydian wanted Maddy.


	15. Shannon

'Mads, what's going on? Really?'

Shannon and Maddy were alone in the changing room. Miss Graham had patched Maddy up and had left the girls alone to go and see that the P.E. equipment was collected up properly. All the while that their teacher had been there, Shannon hadn't spoken; but when they were alone, she began to approach the situation a lot more calmly and reasonably than Tom had.

'What do you mean?' replied Maddy, not meeting Shannon's eyes.

'You know what I mean.' Shannon's face was cold and serious, yet it showed the compassion which she felt for her friend; Shannon was just protective of her and wanted what's best. 'Me and Tom don't see you for one weekend and everything changes!' Shannon sighed. ' When did he come back?'

'A couple of nights ago. But, he didn't mean to Shan! It's like he said! He was only supposed to check up!' Maddy was in a rush to get things out, before Shannon took off. Shannon would be wondering as to why she hadn't been told about Rhydian's return when he came back nights ago, they were best friends after all, who told each other everything, didn't they? 'I'm sorry I didn't call and tell you, but things have been so hectic, I've barely had time to catch my breath!' Maddy looked at her friend, pleadingly, wishing her to understand.

'How have you not had time? Over two days!' Shannon 's voice had become slightly raised, but it was nothing compared to how Tom reacted.

'Because Shan! You know that last night was the full moon! You know how strict my Mam is and how prepared she likes to be! And frankly, you've seen my chest! The whole class has! Did you think that that didn't hurt or something? Or that I just got up, brushed myself off, and carried on!?' Maddy was on her feet now, reeling at her friend's thoughtlessness.

'What? But that on your chest is a scar! They're scars! How can they have happened this weekend! How can they have healed! Already! What!' Shannon was confused; she was not used to the feeling, nor enjoying it.

'Shannon I'm a Wolfblood! The full moon can cure almost anything that's up with us! But we still get left with scars, no matter how fast we heal!' Maddy whispered all of this with a vicious edge to her friend. She was sick of the questions today.

'But, how?...' Shannon sounded shier now, she felt slightly stupid to forget about her friend's extraordinary anatomy.

'Rhydian's Mam!' Shannon's face changed in her understanding when Maddy said this. 'She followed him and lashed out at me.'

'So Tom was right, it was Rhydian's fault! Even if he didn't actually do it himself! He caused it!' Shannon too was on her feet; she no longer cared about shouting and drawing attention.

'Shannon! Don't say that! Don't you ever say that! He didn't plan it! He didn't want it! And if it wasn't for him I'd probably be dead!'

'What!?' Shannon was confused again.

'You think that Ceri would stop at a scratch? She hates me Shan! She blames me! She blames me for everything that's wrong, in her eyes, with Rhydian!' Tears filled Maddy's eyes now; she'd never cried in her entire life as much as she had over the last few days, that she could remember.

'He saved you.' Shannon felt even worse at this realisation.

'Yes, he saved me,' Maddy sat back down, it was so much to take in; she was only just realising the severity of what had happened, 'in more ways than one.'

Shannon would have questioned what Maddy meant by this, but the changing room doors flew open as their peers came to get dressed back into their uniforms. Maddy turned away from her friend and packed her bag; she wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, Maddy wanted to get away from the real world. Maddy wanted Rhydian.


	16. Hello

It had been the worst day that Maddy could ever remember having at school; she wanted to scream. The bell for dinner rang and Maddy almost ran out of the changing rooms, nearly knocking over a first year on her way to the darkroom. The darkroom; this was to be her sanctuary. She couldn't face the canteen today, not while the gossip of her scars would be circling the room. Maddy also wanted to avoid her friends, Tom and Shannon, and hence more arguments. In fact there was only one person that Maddy felt she could stand to be near at the moment, and as she opened the darkroom door, she found that he'd had the same idea too.

'Hi.'

'Hi.'

Rhydian was perched on the edge of the sofa, he'd been anticipating her arrival; he knew that this would be where she'd come today. Neither of them was hungry; something very rare in wolfbloods.

Maddy stopped at the sight of him, she felt a sudden release as she knew he was there, with her. Rhydian rose from his seat.

'Listen… I-' Rhydian was cut off by Maddy flinging herself into his arms, so hard that she almost winded him. This was what Maddy had been enduring the day for; Rhydian. The warmth she felt when he wrapped her arms around her made everything and everyone else fade from Maddy's thoughts, into the background. They were insignificant when she had all that she'd ever need or could want in her arms, softly breathing into her hair. Maddy was taking in every aspect of Rhydian; his scent, like freshly cut grass; the feel off his modestly sculpted chest through his thin, cotton, shirt, against her cheek; the way that he held her with such gentle pressure that she felt wanted and longed for, yet not as though he would squeeze the life out of her. He treated her like a fragile, precious object that he was afraid to break, beyond value to him. He treated her like the one.

Rhydian too felt complete in this single embrace, like he was finally whole. He rested the side of his face on top of Maddy's soft, brown, hair; it's smell of wild lavender overwhelming him. Rhydian enjoyed the tightness of Maddy's arms around his waist; he loved the way that his heart skipped a beat at the slightest touch he received from her. He loved her, and she loved him, and at this moment, they felt as though nothing could ever stop them being together.


	17. Uncertainty

'Maddy?.. Oh, erm sorry.' Shannon entered the darkroom to the sight of the two adolescent wolfbloods enclosed in the others' grasp. They hadn't heard Shannon's approach as they were lost in their own world, and so were slightly startled by her sudden appearance. This caused them both to jump apart and take a dominant stance, in case of attack.

'Shan!'

'Sorry, I thought you'd hear me well before I actually came in,' Shannon defended. Worry spread across her features, she knew that she shouldn't creep up on them. 'Sorry.'

'What do you want, anyway?' Spat Maddy. She looked her friend up and down in disgust as she and Rhydian returned to their normal poses.

Shannon sighed and delicately approached her best friend, 'I wondered if we could talk again? So that I could apologise?' She looked her friend sincerely in the eye; Maddy knew that she meant what she said.

Rhydian sensed Maddy become less tense. 'I'll give you two some space,' he declared. He left after one final meaningful look at Maddy in farewell; neither of them liked to kiss in public, it would draw attention to them, which was the last thing that they needed.

As the door fell shut, Shannon began. 'Look, I'm sorry for what I said. Of course it isn't Rhydian's fault that you got attacked. It was Ceri's! At the end of the day it was her who hurt you, physically at least…'

Maddy was about to full-heartedly forgive her friend, up until that last part…

'And what's that supposed to mean?' Maddy's voice became full of strength as she prepared the need to go on the defence again.

'No, no, I don't mean anything.' Once more, a huff of air escaped Shannon's mouth as she geared up to be truthful with her friend. 'Maddy, I just want you to be sure that you're making the right decision. I mean, after all, it didn't just upset you when Rhydian left Mads, it _destroyed _you.'

Maddy stayed silent as she heard her friend's concerns.

'I just need to know that you're sure, that's all. Then I'll never question your decision and will be behind you one hundred per cent of the way. I just need to know you've thought about what happened then… and that he won't leave you like that ever again.'

Maddy wished that she could tell Shannon what she wanted to hear, but she couldn't. Yes she'd thought about everything that had happened: how hurt she was, how her friends had to pick up the pieces; she'd thought of hardly anything else! But it was Shannon's last clause that had her. Maddy didn't know the answer as to whether Rhydian would stay or not; the truth was that she still didn't have the guts to ask. For now, Maddy was set on living in the moment and trying not to worry about what tomorrow would bring, but how could she not? As much as she wished it was, nothing was certain.


	18. Maddy

'Oi! Leek boy!'

Rhydian had been hunting through his abandoned locker, exploring the remnants of his past life in Stoneybridge, as he was approached by Jimmy, the school's resident rich-boy and the last person that Rhydian wanted to talk to.

'So you're back then?' Questioned Jimmy as he and his henchmen, Sam and Liam, looked up at Rhydian who towered above them; he had grown a lot during his time away.

'Yup.' Replied Rhydian, uninterestedly. He began to pile his things back into the locker so that he could get away from his old school foes as soon as possible; he hated their questions and taunts. Rhydian slung his bag over his shoulder and was about to skulk away when Jimmy got to his point, causing Rhydian to freeze.

'So, how did that happen to Maddy? Looked pretty nasty, earlier.'

'Like she said, a dog did it.' Rhydian's skin crawled at the memory.

'So it wasn't you, like Tom said?' Jimmy knew he was hitting a nerve with Rhydian on this subject, much to his joy. Jimmy loved to find ways of irritating and tormenting Rhydian; the boy who came along and stole away attention which had always been paid to him before his arrival.

'No it wasn't.' Rhydian said this through gritted teeth as he supressed a growl. Jimmy had no right to question him; it was none of his business.

Just at that moment, the three K's stomped their way up to the boys in their hefty heels, which Jeffries had given up trying to stop them wearing.

'Hi, Rhydian!' Katrina smiled, as she naively fluttered her eyelashes.

'Where've you been? We were all so worried.'

'_So_ worried,' agreed Kay with Kara. All three were over-excited at the bad-boy's return.

'Just… here and there,' was all they were going to get as a reply to that question; Rhydian couldn't exactly say he'd been living in a forest, running around with a pack full of half-human-half-wolves.

'Are you ok after Tom this morning? What happened, Rhydian? Was he really angry? You poor thing,' sympathised Kara, dreaming of him spilling his heart out and falling into her arms.

'Mind you, though,' added Katrina before he could say anything, 'you can't really blame him for not being happy.'

'After all, he was head over heels for Maddy after you left. I suppose he doesn't want competition.' At this point Rhydian's eyes shot up from the floor to meet Katrina's, he had only half been listening but at this he was all ears.

'What are you talking about?' Rhydian needed clarification; a million-and-one things were running through his mind. Surely it couldn't be how it sounded?

'Maddy and Tom? Don't you know?' Kay inquired. All of the girls' and boys' eyes sparkled in delight as they found Rhydian's ignorance could be to their advantage.

'It was a couple of months ago,' a smile played on Jimmy's lips. 'They became really close after you left, _one thing lead to another, _as he put it.'

'Nothing was ever _official_, but Tom made no secret of what was going on.'

'Maddy didn't really talk about it, but-'

'Tom was heartbroken when she ended it, even though it didn't last long.'

'Mind you he has always held a torch for her, still does probably,' concluded Kay with a little shrug of her shoulders; it was nothing to her; however to Rhydian it was massive. '_How could she have not told me this?' _thought Rhydian, as the tingling began to flood his body. As life-altering it was what he had just learnt, it was no excuse for forgetting himself and revealing his wolfblood secret to the school.

'So what has been going on with Maddy, anyway?' Kara's words lingered, unanswered, in the air as Rhydian took off through the door and across the playground, to the gap in the fence that he'd made to allow him access to the moors when he was upset over Maddy on his very first day, over a year ago now. The moors had been his retreat in those first few months, when his mind was all over the place, as he discovered who he was. It had always been Maddy who had helped him to accept himself and feel truly happy for the first time in his entire life. It was Maddy who he fell for, Maddy who he'd trusted, Maddy who he left, Maddy who he came back for; it all came back down to Maddy.


	19. The K's

Rhydian ran. He ran for what felt like hours; ran from the world; tried to run from his own soul destroying thoughts. Maddy had been the only thing that Rhydian had ever been certain of in his entire life. He only had his first home when he found her; his first pack; his first love. It was incomprehensible to him that anything the K's or Jimmy had said could have affected him so; but it had.

Maddy was confused. Where was Rhydian? Why wasn't he in last lesson? As the bell rang, the class began to stuff their books and stationary back into their bags, whilst having idle conversations about the day. Maddy's best friend, Shannon, stood up to put her backpack on, facing Maddy.

'Where's Rhydian been, Mads?' As Shannon said this, Tom eyed Rhydian's empty seat suspiciously, before moodily scurrying through the door of the history class without a word.

'Yeah, where's he gone? Haven't seen him since he ran off earlier,' one of the K's interjected. They had rather been hoping to see him after school and catch him alone. Maddy's eyes widened in concern as they detailed his earlier actions, what had they done?

'What did you say to him?' It must be serious if he took off in front of the K's.

'What? Nothing! We just wanted to see if he was alright after Tom earlier!' The K's began.

'Honestly Maddy, you need to set that boy straight about you and him. I don't know why,' Katrina looked Maddy up and down in distaste, 'but it's clear Tom's not over you.'

'It's not fair on either of them.'

'But then again, why should Tom be mad anyway? Of course Rhydian isn't a threat, how could someone like him ever look at you?'

'Oi!' Shannon protested, but her friend stayed silent as she realised what was going on.

'What did you tell him!?' Maddy could feel the tingling flood her limbs, but she had to control it so that she could get full measure of the situation.

'We just filled him in about why Tom would be upset, you know? After you and he…' The K's tones were light easy as they relayed the information to Maddy, not understanding the magnitude of the consequences of their loose tongue.

Maddy fled the emptying room, pushing past her peers as she fought her way outside. Back in the classroom, the K's had confusion plastered across their faces. To Shannon it was pretty clear what was going on, but Kay, Kara and Katrina, who were consumed in their own vanity, couldn't understand. Maddy and Rhydian couldn't be together; after all, who could prefer plain, little Maddy Smith to them? The idea made them laugh.


	20. Waiting

**I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SORRY that it's taken me so long to update, who knew A-Levels took up so much of your time? Plus I had a bit of writer's block with this chapter, I started writing it over a week ago, but all of your lovely reviews, follows and favourites have motivated me to finally finish and post this, so please keep them coming! I'll try my best to update again soon!**

Rhydian stopped, lied down and thought; thought about what the hell had happened. He couldn't imagine Maddy keeping something so big from him, if it was that big at all. After all, the three Ks weren't exactly the most trustworthy people in the school, in fact they were the biggest gossips that Rhydian had ever met; and that was saying something after a life of jumping from care home to foster home.

Maddy was running at top speed, regardless of being seen, in search of Rhydian; she clung to his scent as though her life depended on it, which it did, in her eyes. She needed to find Rhydian and explain everything to him before it's too late, before he goes again. The thought of Rhydian's departure made Maddy's chest ache; she had to find him, now.

Just as Maddy was distracted by the possibly imminent end of her world, she tripped; something which never happened to a wolfblood. She tumbled down the steep forest floor, allowing a startled scream to escape her mouth.

Rhydian's head was hurting; he was exhausted with thinking about Maddy and Tom. A million different questions had crossed his mind in the last hour, and he'd had enough. He just needed to run, to clear his mind and run. As Rhydian rose from his place, he heard a scream; Maddy's scream. He set off running in the opposite direction to the one he'd planned, and found her, spitting leaves out of her mouth, at the bottom of the dip. He hurried over to her, forgetting his anger, needing to know she was ok.

'Maddy!' Rhydian began, making Maddy jump; she didn't hear his arrival as she busied removing the twigs from her hair. 'You ok?'

'All the better for seeing you,' Maddy replied, cringing at what she had just said, although it was true. She collected her thoughts and continued as Rhydian helped her up, fussing, 'Is this where you've been? I've been looking for you for ages!'

'I needed space to think.' Rhydian suddenly returned to his sullen way as he remembered why he was in the forest, instead of school. Maddy saw the shift in Rhydian's demeanour and decided that there was no time like the present.

'Rhydian, I know what the Ks told you, so please, let me talk? You sit,' Rhydian stared into Maddy's deadened eyes, 'please…' he did as he was told and leant against a tree trunk.

Maddy had been pacing for the last few minutes, trying to work out how to go about explaining Tom to Rhydian, who's frustration built with every step Maddy took. He was sick of waiting, he couldn't do it anymore.

'Maddy!' Rhydian stood to meet her eyes as she came to an abrupt halt, only just realising how long she had left him sitting there. 'I just need to know! Just tell me straight! Were you and he together? Yes or no?' His heart was racing and he was sure that Maddy could hear it.

'Rhydian…'

At this, Rhydian began to storm of, _why would she avoid the question if she had nothing to hide? _He attempted to slide past Maddy as she caught his arm and span him around to face her, refusing to let go of his wrist.

'It's complicated Rhydian, you left and it all became so complicated…'

To this, Rhydian creased his forehead in confusion; to him it should have been black and white.

'When you left, I was…' a lump rose in Maddy's throat as she tried to put into words what she had gone through, it became apparent that she couldn't, 'and… Tom was there for me-'

Rhydian didn't want to hear this. He stepped forward to leave again when Maddy's hands crashed against his sculpted chest.

'LISTEN!' her eyes flashed dangerously yellow as she shouted, hands remaining rested on Rhydian's chest; she was not letting him walk away.

'We,' Maddy swallowed, 'got closer. He'd gotten a bit too used to comforting me with hugs and stroking my hair.' As Maddy's own eyes dimmed, Rhydian's blazed gold in jealousy. 'You have to understand Rhydian, when you left, my self-confidence hit zero. Tom made me feel wanted again, like somebody actually cared about me.'Rhydian pulled his face in exasperation at Maddy's excuses.

'I'm not trying to make you feel guilty,' retaliated Maddy, 'but it's true. When you left you took a part of me with you.' Rhydian slowly stepped away from Maddy's touch and turned his back to her, not wanting her to see his 'weakness' as a solitary tear drifted down his pale cheek. 'We kissed a couple of times and he occasionally managed to take my mind off things, but he wasn't _you_ Rhydian; and it didn't take me long to realise that, so I told Tom I wanted to just stay friends.'

Maddy stared at the back of Rhydian's head for what felt like an age, waiting for a reply. She now knew how he had felt earlier; the wait was unbearable.

'How long?' whispered Rhydian, he couldn't seem to remember how to form a sentence as he continued to stare into an abyss.

'What?' Maddy returned in the same manner, incomprehension sounding in her voice.

'How long?' Rhydian repeated, 'for and ago? How long?'

'Oh…' Maddy paused to scan back through her memories, 'about three months ago, only for a couple of weeks, if that.

Rhydian didn't know how to react, how could he react? He couldn't blame her for trying to move on, he almost wished she would have done and been happy. He continued to stand there in contemplation, still and unmoving, when he felt the warmth of Maddy's breath tickle the back of his neck as she stepped forward to break the silence.

'Rhydian, I-'

Suddenly, Rhydian had made up his mind on what he should do. Taking Maddy by surprise, he spun around, took her face in his hands, and kissed her desperately. He kissed her with such force that he knocked her back, making her stumble against a tree as she returned the kiss; passionate and wanting. She threaded the finger of one of her hands through Rhydian's soft locks, whilst her other hand grabbed some of his shirt in a fist, pulling him as closely to her as possible. She needed to feel he was there completely. She'd almost lost him.


End file.
